Riley is a deputy director at the Ohio Department of Transportation. He’s a former CH2M Hill consultant who joined the department in March to run its Division of Innovative Delivery.

That means he’s looking for public-private partnerships that can build major infrastructure projects better, cheaper and faster. I asked about his work on the Brent Spence project so far.

Here are excerpts:

Q: What can you do today that you couldn’t before the governors signed that agreement? The signing was ceremonial. We’ve been under contract with a firm (HNTB Corp.) to perform a value for money analysis. We’ve been at it for a couple of months.

Q: What’s the next step? We’re looking for an interim report by the end of January. It will be a first cut. The value for money analysis won’t be finished until this spring, but our goal is to have some preliminary findings and recommendations by the end of January so that can help Kentucky’s legislative process. If they need to introduce legislation they can deal with it then.

Q: How likely is it that Kentucky will need enabling legislation on the bridge? If the recommendation looks more like a P3 (public-private partnership) they’ll need legislation. If it’s a straight design-build, owner-managed (project) then they probably wouldn’t. But I’m not a Kentucky legislative expert.

Q: Is P3 the leading contender? P3 works a lot, but it doesn’t work everywhere. That’s what the analysis does. It’s all about risk transfer. You have to look at where it’s appropriate to transfer risk and where it isn’t so you can achieve the lowest cost. That’s the whole purpose of the study.

Q: Are the states considering the recent proposal by the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority to design, build and operate the Brent Spence? We’ve talked to the Port Authority, as one of the stakeholders ... I’m not even really aware of what you’re referring to. I haven’t seen any proposal. The authority to operate, maintain and build this bridge lies with the departments of transportation.

Q: What’s the project price tag now? Well, the governors mentioned $2.5 billion. That’s for way more than a bridge. That’s 7.8 miles of freeway corridor. That’s right of way, professional services, construction, all of it. We’re doing value engineering now. Our goal is that it goes nowhere but down.

Q: The agreement mentions “additional professional services” may be required. How can firms from the Cincinnati area get involved? We’ve got all that lined up right now through the value for money analysis. The next phase will be procurement. We’ll be hiring contractors, engineering designers, people with financial packages, so yeah, teams will be forming around the infrastructure component. But as far as planning and studies, we’ve already got our team in place.